New Rules
by Perhelediel
Summary: Cloud teaches Marlene and Denzel a new card came one boring Saturday afternoon. Random oneshot. Post FFVII, PreAC.


Random fiction I came up with at about 1:00 in the morning. Marlene and Denzel are bored, with only Cloud around for company. Really not one of my best. There's really no plot, no point, nothing. But I'd like to get some feedback on it.

Disclaimer: None of it's mine. Cloud, Marlene, Denzel, and the Seventh Heaven bar all belong to Square-Enix.

New Rules

"Aw, c'mon, Marlene. This is boring."

"You promised!"

"But it's _boring_. You've won twice already."

"Okay then...want to go down to the secret headquarters?"

"The pinball machine's broken, remember?"

"Oh, right."

Marlene hopped down from the bed, her hand of cards spilling from her lap onto the wooden floor. She walked briskly toward the toybox in the corner, bouncing slightly on the soles of her white high-tops.

Denzel looked down over the edge of his twin bed, laying on his stomach. Marlene's cards were scattered, but he could see two aces and two threes.

"You told me you didn't have any threes!"

"I know. I needed them!" Marlene said, giggling, looking back over her shoulder at the ten-year-old boy as she dug inside the toybox.

"Who taught you to play Go Fish?"

"Er, Yuffie."

"Who's that?"

"She's one of Papa's friends. She lives in Wutai now," Marlene chided, tugging at a box near the bottom of the pile of faded plastic playthings. "She's not that much older than us, you know. Only…"

She stood up momentarily to count on her fingers.

"Seven years older than you…and nine more than me," she said, frowning.

"That's a lot."

"Yup...oops."

Denzel frowned slightly at Marlene, a small smirk tilting his lips.

"Marlene, I dunno if you were playing by the rules."

She turned to look at him, her round brown eyes widening innocently. She said nothing for a moment, wringing her small hands together.

"Er…sure I was!"

"No, you weren't," he said, teasing her. He grinned.

"Fine. You can go ask…Tifa! Yeah, I bet she knows!"

"She went to Wallmarket. We're out of soap."

A sudden sound of someone clearing their throat came from down the hall. The wooden floor creaked slightly as a chair shifted.

Denzel's eyes brightened mischievously, and Marlene let out a little squeal as he leapt off the bed and pelted out the door. She gave chase, her dirty white high-tops smacking the floorboards as both children flew out into the corridor, laughing.

Denzel grabbed the doorframe of the room at the end of the hall and pivoted around it into the room, running breathlessly up until he slammed into the back of the desk chair, his small hands splayed against the occupant's back.

Cloud jumped slightly in alarm, looking over his right shoulder quickly as Denzel fell back, grinning up at the swordsman as Marlene finally caught up to him. Cloud's stern blue eyes met the young boys', his cell phone pressed to his left ear with one gloved hand.

"Oh…are you busy? I'm sorry," Denzel said, noticing suddenly.

"Nah," Cloud replied gruffly, turning back to the desk momentarily and snapping the flip phone shut with one finger and tucking it in his pocket. "Just…listening to messages."

Denzel nodded. Marlene rocked back and forth slightly on the balls of her feet, gazing around the small room with mild interest. She was used to the swordsman's curt answers; she wasn't entirely sure Denzel was, however.

After a moment, Denzel spoke up into the silence.

"Um…Cloud?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you any good at card games?"

Cloud looked up, still bent over his maps and delivery lists, tapping his chin with his pencil.

"I haven't really played one in a while…"

"I remember, Cloud! Biggs and Jessie made you play when…before they…" Marlene chided, suddenly trailing off. The swordsman didn't respond. Denzel looked curiously from the young girl to the older man before continuing in a more subdued fashion.

"See, because Marlene was playing unfair," Denzel began, his childlike tendency to ramble beginning to rear its head. "And I asked her for a three but she said she didn't have one and I saw that she really did have one and there weren't any more in the pile and she said that—what was her name—Yuffie taught her how to play and--"

Cloud suddenly cleared his throat, turning to face the two children again.

"Marlene, you let a ninja teach you how to play Go Fish?"

Marlene beamed at him, her hands clasped behind her back. "I liked her way! I always beat Papa when I play her way."

The corner of Cloud's lip curled up slightly, the closest thing to a smile Denzel had seen for a few weeks. He made an amused sort of grunt, brushing his spiked blonde bangs from his eyes.

"She taught you how to play dirty, huh?"

Marlene smiled somewhat guiltily.

Cloud looked back at Denzel, his accustomed emotionless expression in place, but a slight twinkle in his clear blue eyes.

"Well…do you want me to teach you how to play a new game?"

Denzel considered. "Uh…sure?"

Cloud put the pencil back on top of his papers, standing up with some effort and walking out of the room, leaving the two small children gazing after him in awe. Cloud was in rare form today—usually, he hardly ever talked, let alone participated in their child's play. Marlene padded out of the room after him, Denzel following.

………………………

"I'm out of Oreos."

Marlene threw her hand of cards into her lap, between her crossed legs. She rested her chin between her two pudgy palms. A small pile of cookies sat on the bedside table, Cloud sitting on the edge of the twin bed beside Denzel, both facing her.

"It's okay, Marlene, you can join in next round," Denzel said brightly, looking at his hand.

Three Aces, two Kings. No way could he lose this one.

Cloud stared at his hand, keeping it carefully concealed from the young boy, studying the cards with a slight frown creasing his brow. Finally, he looked up and tossed one of his eleven cookies into the pile on the table. His bet for this hand.

Denzel looked at Cloud's face carefully. He certainly didn't look pleased, or frustrated either. His face was completely stagnant.

Feeling silently triumphant, Denzel tossed the rest of his small horde of Oreos onto the pile. Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"All in?"

"All in."

"Well…that's that. What have you got?"

Denzel turned his hand around with a flourish, showing off his cards with a highly self-impressed look on his young face. Marlene giggled.

"Full house, huh?"

Cloud smirked slightly, putting his hand in plain view. All four nines, and a five.

Denzel stared incredulously, sighing in defeat.

"Does four of a kind beat full house?"

"Yup. Sorry."

Cloud carefully scooped the pile of Oreos onto his lap, crumbs falling between his heavy black boots on the wooden floor.

"Guess this is all mine now."

"But you only put one Oreo in…and you didn't look like you--" Denzel began, stuttering and trailing off.

"I was bluffing."

"And," Marlene began, piping up. "Cloud's got the best poker face in the world."

Denzel glanced at her, then back at the swordsman, who gave a short jerk of the head as if seconding her opinion.

"Okay then. You're gonna eat them all by yourself?"

Cloud didn't respond, but put the Oreos back on the table one by one, the children's eyes following his progress hungrily. He stood up.

"You guys can have them. And Marlene—try to go easy on your dad and Denzel, okay? No more sneaky Go Fish."

Denzel looked up at the swordsman as he went around the bed and out of the room, walking back to his office with his heavy gait resounding through the floor. He grinned. Cloud had spent the entire afternoon teaching them poker, when normally he was so quiet and reserved.

Cloud…the man with the eternal poker face.

……………………………

Random and almost entirely pointless, but I was bored enough to write it, I might as well see what you all thought of it. Reviews are very welcome.


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